Collection of music videos

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is considered one of the three giants of musical composition, along with Bach and Beethoven . A child prodigy born in Salzburg , Austria, he mastered the keyboard and violin at the age of six and began composing. His father, Leopold , exhibited him on exhausting tours of various European courts. A prolific composer (more than 600 works written between the age of five and his death), he cultivated all kinds of musical genres: piano works, chamber music, symphonies, concertante works, choral works, operas... each and every one of them a masterpiece of their kind. His operas The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro are among the 10 most performed operas in the world. He died in Vienna at the age of 35.

The catalogue of Mozart's works or Köchel Catalogue ( Köchel Verzeichnis, in German) was created by Ludwig von Köchel in 1862 and lists the musical works composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Each of Mozart 's works is designated by a number preceded by the abbreviation K. or KV ; this number designates the chronological order of its creation and which is actually valid for most of the works; however, in its first edition, works by other authors appear erroneously attributed to Mozart , and other authentic works that had not yet been discovered are omitted.

Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. (412+514)/386b, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Written in 1791, the work is in two movements. It is the only one of Mozart 's four horn concertos in D major (the rest are in E flat major ) and the only one with only two movements instead of the usual three. Although numbered first, it was actually the last of the four concertos to be completed.

Sarah Willis (1969) is an American horn player who grew up in Maryland, Tokyo, Boston, Moscow and London . She began playing the horn at age 14; at 22, she joined the Berlin State Opera and at 32, the Berlin Philharmonic, where she continues to perform today. In 2017, she traveled to Cuba for the first time to teach a horn master class, at which time she was captivated by the overflowing musicality of its inhabitants and the high technical preparation of its musicians. She returned on three more occasions to teach as many master classes; from this coexistence with Cuban musicians emerged Mozart and Mambo , which is a musical selection that combines Mozart horn concertos with traditional Cuban music. The album was released in 2020.

Taken from that album, today we offer the First Movement with Sara Willis accompanied by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra.

Jacinto Guerrero (1895-1951) was a Spanish musician and composer of zarzuelas born in Ajofrín (Toledo) into a humble family whose father, Avelino Guerrero Cruz , was the sacristan and director of the band in his town where little Jacinto played the bass drum and cymbals at just 6 years old. In 1914 he composed his first work written for band, which brought him enormous success and fame, Himno a Toledo . Thanks to this, he obtained a scholarship from the Provincial Council and the City Council to enter the Madrid Conservatory . In 1948, he became president of the SGAE , which led him, a year later, to travel to Brussels, Paris, Lisbon and New York ; in September of that same year, he died in the Rúber sanatorium in Madrid.

The Saffron Rose is a zarzuela in two acts, a free adaptation of Felix Lope de Vega 's comedy The Dog in the Manger , with music by Jacinto Guerrero , and premiered on March 14, 1930 at the Teatro Calderón in Madrid . The librettists were Federico Romero Sarachaga and Guillermo Fernández-Shaw Iturralde , a duo that had previously collaborated with Amadeo Vives . The action, which takes place in La Mancha, Spain, tells the story of a poor farmer in love with a young woman who works on her mistress's farm, from whom he asks permission to go out with the young woman. The version we offer today is conducted by the Malaga-born maestro Arturo Díez Boscovcih .

Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755–1824) was an Italian violinist, composer, and teacher. The son of an instrumentalist, Viotti took his first lessons from his father, who played the French horn. Appreciated as a violinist from a very young age, he was taken under the protection of the Prince and Princess of Dal Pozo della Cisterna who arranged for him to study with Antonio Celoniat . In 1782 he was appointed soloist at the court of Marie Antoinette ; he later went on to dedicate himself to teaching, composing, and organizing concerts, and in 1794 he was appointed artistic director and conductor at the King's Theatre in London ; four years later he returned to Paris , and three years after that he returned to London where he died in 1824.

During the last 20 years of the 18th century, he was considered the best violinist in Europe ; as a composer, he was a defender of the Italian instrumental tradition of the Rococo period , but open to Romanticism.

La Marseillaise ("La Marseillaise") has been the official national anthem of France since 14 July 1795. The anthem, originally titled Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin ("War Song for the Army of the Rhine"), was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle , captain of engineers at the Strasbourg garrison, as a patriotic song for revolutionary France in its war against Austria. Parisians welcomed it with great enthusiasm and renamed it La Marseillaise . It was banned during the Empire and the Restoration , and was made official again during the Third Republic . During 1940-1945 it was banned again, and its singing was considered a symbol of resistance to the German occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime.

Today we offer Viotti 's Tema e variazioni in C maggiore , a set of themes and variations on La Marseillaise performed by the Camerata Ducale with Maestro Guido Rimonda as soloist and conductor.

Tōru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996) was a composer and performer known for his exploration of the principles of musical composition inherent to Western classical music and the Japanese musical tradition, both separately and in combination; he is considered an influential figure in the music of his country, who also gained wide recognition and diffusion in the West . He was essentially self-taught in music, although highly influenced by French classical music, particularly that of Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen ; this did not prevent him from incorporating Japanese instruments into the orchestra, such as the shakuhachi (a type of bamboo flute) or the biwa (a type of Japanese lute).

Takemitsu first came to the attention of a wide audience with his Requiem for String Orchestra (1957), which was praised by Igor Stravinsky . Takemitsu 's work includes solo piano pieces, chamber music, orchestral music, electroacoustic music, and nearly one hundred film scores. During his career, he received 17 awards, including those from the Japan Film Academy (in 1978, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1990, and 1996), the Grawemeyer Award for composition (1994), and, posthumously, the 4th Glenn Gould Prize (1996).

Nostalgia. The piece's name derives from Andrei Tarkovsky 's film of the same name, a tribute to the director who passed away shortly after his untimely death. Similar to the Italian-Soviet film, the piece contains themes of aspiration: unlike many languages, the word "nostalgia" in Russian and Italian describes the longing for a place or a person, rather than the reminiscence of a time gone by. The string orchestra paints shimmering images of water and fog while the solo violin sways plaintively above. Together, the instruments embody an unapologetic nature, a cold and ambiguous tone creating an unshakeable sense of loneliness. (Excerpted from Schott 's article)

Today we bring it to you by Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Seiji Ozawa .

"Ay Carmela" is a song originally composed in the early 19th century and performed by Spanish soldiers fighting against the French invasion during the Peninsular War (1808–1814). It was later revived under various names by Republican soldiers as one of the songs of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The melody was also used by the Francoist faction, specifically by the Falangists and Requetés, under the name " Por el río Nervión ."

Natalia Lafourcade (Mexico City, 1984). Recognized as the first Ambassador of Music for Peace , Natalia Lafourcade 's voice, an ode to love, freedom and life, has crossed the borders of her country to move and inspire generations of all ages around the world with her lyrics. Her music, a fusion of multiple genres that mixes notes of pop , jazz and cumbia with son jarocho , chords from her native Veracruz that she rescues in honor of her roots, but also melodies from other territories such as bolero or bossa nova , has made her one of the most fascinating personalities in Latin American folklore. A four-time Grammy Award winner and seventeen-time Latin Grammy Award winner, Natalia has participated in numerous musical projects over her more than 20-year career, establishing herself as one of the most important, versatile, and acclaimed contemporary Spanish-language singer-songwriters. In addition to her acclaimed songwriting and singing talent, her philanthropic and activist role in preserving Mexico's ancestral origins and customs has distinguished her as a guardian of Mexico 's cultural memory. (Excerpt from the commentary at the bottom of this video)

Aleksandr Glazunov (1865-1936) was a Russian composer, conductor, and influential music teacher. He combined a revival of Russian musical roots with an embrace of Western stylistic influences, which became increasingly prominent in his later works. He was close to the circle of Russian composers of nationalist and folk revival known as the Group of Five . He is considered the last exponent of the Russian national school of composition, founded by Mikhail Glinka .

The Grand Pas is a set of dances that serves as a showpiece for the principal dancers, the demi-soloists, and, in some cases, the corps de ballet. It usually consists of an entrance (introduction), a grand adagio, sometimes a dance for the corps de ballet, optional variations (solo dances) for the demi-soloists, variations for the principal dancer or the male dancer, or both, and a coda (sometimes called a coda générale or grand coda), which concludes the suite.

Raymonda is a ballet in three acts, with music by Aleksandr Glazunov and choreography by Marius Petipa , premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 19, 1898. The work narrates the vicissitudes of a crusading prince and an abominable Saracen in their struggle for the love of Raymonda .

Today we offer the Grand Pas del Ballet in performance by Ekaterina Krysanova, V. Svortok and the Bolshoi Ballet .

The biwa is a Japanese plucked instrument similar to the Western lute. It originated in China , where it was exported to Japan around 730. It consists of a sound box, a fretted neck, and five strings plucked with a large plectrum. Wandering biwa players, similar to troubadours, were known as biwa hoshi .